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World War II
World War II (also known as WW2, WWII, or the Second World War) was a global armed conflict that lasted from September 1, 1939-September 2, 1945. There were two sides-the Allies and the Axis Powers. The Allies consisted of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Norway, Denmark, France, Greece, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, China, India, the Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, and Brazil. The Axis Powers consisted of Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.There were three main fronts: the European Front, the Pacific Front, and the Mediterranean Front. The USA, the UK, and Canada participated in all three. Following World War II would see things such as the Cold War, Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. It all started on September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. However, they previously signed a treaty with Britain and France, promising not to. Because of them lying, Britain and France got involved as they were both allies of Poland. From 1939-1940 the Axis Powers conquered almost all of Europe, with the Germans taking over Poland, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Norway. The Germans pressured weaker dictatorships such as Romania to join the Axis forces, while Japan took advantage of the Battle of France to occupy French Indochina. In 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Airforce launched a surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor, a United States Naval base in Hawaii, killing nearly 3,000 people. Following this attack would see the United States enter the war. Several other nations joined the allies, and the Allied Powers would work together to liberate occupied territories from Nazi Germany from 1941-1945. In December of 1941 the Nazi's push into the Soviet Union would be halted and the Allies would begin their counterattacks, liberating South Africa from Germany and Italy, knocking Italy out of the war in 1943 with the invasion of Sicily in July-September of 1943, pushing the Germans out of Ukraine and Belarus on the Russian Front, and recapturing several islands from the Japanese. In 1944, the Soviets and the Allies launched offensives against Axis powers in western Europe as Eastern Europe was already liberated by the Soviets, this included the liberation of France and Americans captured many more Islands from the Japanese. 1945, the final year of the war saw the Soviet and the Western Allies divide Germany among themselves after defeating the German Army, as well as liberating the Balkans. The Soviets captured the German capital city of Berlin and Adolf Hitler killed himself, In Italy Benito Mussolini was also killed by partisans, along with his mistress. On May 8, 1945 the war in Europe officially ended, Germany signed a document of unconditional surrender. Germany was divided into occupational zones among the allied powers. Meanwhile in Asia the war continued, the Americans took control of Iwo Jima and Okinawa from Japan and in August of 1945 the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A shocked Japan formally surrendered shortly after with emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of the country. On September 2, 1945, Japan signed the document of surrender, officially ending the war and solidifying an allied victory in the pacific. Anywhere from 50,000,000-80,000,000 people died as a result of World War II, the bloodiest war in history. Many of these deaths were of civilians, including the 10,000,000 victims of the Holocost, and massacres of civilians in occupied areas. Following World War II would see the Cold War begin as well as the proxy wars within it such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War. World War II had a vast effect on history as a whole, countries, borders, and entire governments were changed by the war, it would take years for Europe to rebuild following the war, with several colonies even gaining independence following the end of the conflict. The aftermath of the war would change how the world was, with it giving birth to a whole new type of world, the post war world. Category:Wars